Dr. Cranky

Absolutely true, Harry. I'm gonna have to work on them . . . I'm in the process of finishing the other one, and once they are both done, I can do some general dusting of the tries . . . hum, I like the idea of the scuff mark! Thanks.

Here are a few more. I am trying out some new photographing lighting equipment (I'll show you a picture of it later) and I think these pictures are a bit crisper and better lit!

ACES WILD is pretty darn close to being finished. I have to touch up a couple little brackets, braces and stuff and it's done. I want to dust the tires a little bit, and maybe the interior or I might not test fate and just leave it alone!!! Stay tuned in for just a few more . . .

I was thinking more in terms of self protection . . . a piece of chain does quite a bit of damange! Which is also why I thought of having a caged rat on the passenger side . . . for protection. A little sign that reads: Do Not Feed My Rat For It Is Rabid! The other thing that would be cooler than say, 1/24th scale rats, would be a Rat Fink leaning back on the seat with his feet up on the dashboard smokiing a stoggie!

I am back at the bench today, so I hope to have more progress . . . and perhaps finish these two before Friday rolls around. Stay tuned in . . . and thanks for all the feedback. Thank you all.

Real rats or plastic rats . . . if they are real, that's a bargain!!!

Here are just a few more . . . this one really shows that paint texture . . .

Thanks for the feedback, gents . . I appreciate it . . . okay, now we can continue with the lunch hour candy. Here are some more pics . . . enjoy . . . There's something mighty real about all those exhaust pipes not lining up right . . . Wow, plum colored headlight buckets . . .maybe I am over reaching into those seldom used colors . . .

Thanks, chaps . . . here are some more progress pics . . . All right, maties, as we heat into this Tuesday's lunch hour . . . here are the mock up pictures . . . as they finally loaded up . . . enjoy . . . I don't know if you guys can tell from these pictures, but there's no trace of the decal paper, which is the magic of using Future, then decal with Micro Sol, and then dullcoat . . . ] Hey, I realized I don't have a steering wheel yet. I need to look through the scrap box . . .

I changed the setting on my camera to Superfine so the pictures are loading up ultra slow . . . but here's a teaser shot of some mock-up pictures I will have in about an hour . . . stay tuned in.

I also finished painting and detailing the front of IRRITANT's chassis . . .

Here are progress pics of IRRITANT'S (Yellow rat!) interior . . . since this is for a couple the detailing is more spare but more contrasting . . . I still have to weather that red rag!!! Yes, and the bucket seat still swivels . . .

Here's the interior of ACES WILD (Green rat!): I did the cushion with two part epoxy and I think it came out better than the other cushions, so I guess practice makes perfect. Also, don't ask about the chain under the seat!!!

Thanks for the comments, folks. I really appreciate it . . . here's a bit more progress . . . every time I think I am getting done with these two rats, I get more ideas . . . so the progress continues . . . Here are the detailed engines . . . The exhaust pipes came out nice, again aluminum tubing dropped for a few seconds in etching solution, then dropped in water over night to neutralize the chemical reaction . . . and then allowed to air dry . . . so what you see in this picture is the natural rusting of that process . . .

LOL--yeah, that's we need Bronx rats!!! The size of wild pigs . . . I am making progress, but it is very slow because it's a matter of painting some details on the chassis and engine so that they look right . . . Do stay tuned in for more progress . . .

Speaking of rats . . . I would love to find out where I can get rats in 1/24th scale. Does anybody know who makes them? I know they exist in 1/35th . . . except 1/35th rats in 1/24th scale would look like mice!!!

Been working on the engine, but I've put a long day of work today. I'm getting a bit fried . . . and I don't want to get careless . . . my eyes are shot and my fingers are getting way too fat for this kind of detailing!!! I cut the exhaust pipes and then dipped them for a few seconds in etching solution to get them nice and grimy . . .

Finally got the interior pretty much done, except I'll come back and detail it with some stuff after it is in . . . The cushions came out pretty good. I made them with this stuff from Games Workshop they call "greenstuff." The one over on the right I'm sure is not comfortable to ride, but it fits the bill of scratch-built interiro!

Jason, I'm working on an article about all my weathering techniques for the Oct. issue of MCM! Stay tuned in for that. Thanks for your comments . . .

I like this shot: Hopefully the interior and the engine will bring another level of detail to these suckers . . .

Here's a close up of that front. The grill gave me a bit of a hard time cause I had to drybrush some silver on the ribs . . . silver is not the best color to drybrush with . . . Here's the yellow one . . . neither one of these builds has names yet, other than maybe ACES WILD, the green one, and this one, I don't know . . .

I had sealed the decals with dullcoat, and also sanded down the rear wheels to give them a bit of character . . . I think little details like this pay off!!! I also put in the dash and put the dials behind it so that they are there in case someone looked close enough. I wanted to give this vehicle two different sets of wheels, again just for interst sake. The decals and the dials look good . . .

Here are some progress shots . . . I decided to go with a bit more color on these two . . . just to imply--I hope--that the parts are coming from all over the place . . . Yeah, it is sitting pretty low on the rails . . . it took me a while to get it this low . . . and lots of interior tub accomodations (that will come tomorrow!)

I can see it now, a Stukka Stude!!!

Let me see if I can dig it up . . . .